Yes you too can make Bread and Water, Drop Scones, Dried Frog Pills (complete with NO FROGS). Plus it has great (and VERY funny) words of wisdom from Nanny Ogg.

If you like Diskworld I would recomend it. If you are looking for a normal cookbook look somewhere else.

I bought this book for my mother for Christmas and she loves it! It's beautiful to look through, and it's a hysterical read, for anyone, not just cooks.

This heavily edited version of Nanny Ogg's Cookbook made me wish for the days when I was in Ankh-Morpork with me mum and she'd ...

OK, so that's going a bit too far. Please forgive me.

The recipes are all in metric units but that's no real trouble for a resourceful American cook! I have tried several, they came out quite well! The honey mixture for the porridge is delicious. I also liked Rincewind's potato cakes. The gumbo recipe was amazing! Technically, I suppose that I have also had the Librarian's recipe but that is quite probably splitting hairs.

But odds are that you aren't buying this for the recipes. You're buying it for the wit and wisdom of Terry Pratchett. You get that in spades! The way Leonard of Quirm makes a cheese sandwich had me laughing out loud! The sections on etiquette were divine. My personal favorite was about Death but then again, I've always loved that character.

Check it out! You won't regret it!

The first thing Putnam does in this calm, well-balanced and very accessible book is make the very reasonable suggestion that instead of labeling a child with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) we might better say that the child has a "Marathon Mind." Putnam goes on to make the strong argument that instead of treating the hyperactive child with Ritalin and other psychostimulants it might be better and more natural to try a program of aerobic exercise.

This makes so much sense that it is hard to believe that it isn't more often prescribed. Putnam hints at the reason: (1) It's not easy for a busy parent to supervise the exercise program, and hiring a personal exercise coach is expensive. (2) "[I]nsurance will more likely cover medication" than therapy or a coach. (p. 13) It should also be noted that Big Pharma is not motivated to conduct research into the effects of exercise on ADHD-labeled children since a positive finding would not favorably affect their bottom line.

Personally, I am highly suspicious of these new "disorders" like ADHD that HMO-driven doctors treat with drugs. There are legitimate cases, no doubt; but most of the time I suspect there is nothing wrong except that this is a child that needs a lot of physical activity and a lot of body/mind stimulation. That is that child's strength. He (most of those diagnosed with ADHD are boys) can be active and effective at a high energy level and take in a lot more from the environment than other kids can. He needs to be up and doing. Putnam sees "movement" as satisfying "the wanderer, hunter, farmer, and gatherer in all of us." This is the message from evolutionary medicine. We evolved in an environment that had us up and doing all day long. The child that craves activity and stimulation is perhaps the truly natural child; and it is the modern environment with its restrictive classrooms and exercise-stealing tools and vehicles that is unnatural. Perhaps the environment ought to be labeled as having PADD (Physical Activity Deficit Disorder).

Consider the program of the typical "soccer mom." Despite all her good intentions, her child really doesn't get enough exercise. First there's the ride to the soccer field, then there's sitting on the bench during perhaps most of the game, then the ride to Chuckie Cheese's afterwards, and then the ride home. Perhaps a couple of hours or more have passed and how much of that time was the child actually exercising? Maybe twenty minutes, maybe ten.

How about at school? How long does recess last? Putnam cites studies that show even a little exercise tends to allow the child to focus better. He even suggests that the very lack of movement forced on the child in the typical classroom situation is contributing to the symptoms of ADHD. He uses the term "proprioceptive feedback" to refer to a mind/body phenomenon that allows us "to adjust our arousal level as well as our sense of tranquility." (p. 22) By the way, I would like to see the amount of time devoted to physical education in our schools doubled. Not only would this help the child that feels trapped in the classroom, but would work against the growing problem of childhood obesity.

Putnam discusses what he calls "optimal stimulation" and analyzes the role of dopamine in an exercise program, and "the runner's high." He considers the wide range of needs that children may have and offers suggestions on how parents may help their child find the right exercise program. He considers motivation and the family dynamics that either foster or hinder the child's opportunity to exercise.

Putnam clearly believes that the use of drugs to treat a hyperactive child should be the treatment of last choice, and I couldn't agree more. Who knows what the long-term effects might be? Read this book and see how you as a parent might be able to make a healthy choice for your child.

Stephen Putnam's Nature's Ritalin For The Marathon Mind: Nurturing Your ADHD Child With Exercise is a solid, "reader friendly" guide specifically written for the parents of ADHD children. Putnam offers exercise as an alternative therapy to medication for the control of ADHD symptoms. Healthful, fun, and exciting ways to share activities with one's child are discussed as well as the special benefits that a good fitness program has on the ADHD mind. Highly recommended reading for parents concerned with the problems inherent in behavior control medications for children; the solid precepts clearly laid out within the pages of Nature's Ritalin For The Marathon Mind are meant to be discussed at length with one's family doctor.

This book provides a common sense, lay-language approach not only to its intended audience - adults dealing with ADHD children - but also a general populous.

It's the simple and obvious that is so often forgotten or dismissed. Putnam effectively outlines how exercise impacts behavior, mental acuity, attitude and pleasure. While the book is intended to address the issues associated with ADHD, it is applicable to any parent, child, teacher or adult seeking possible avenues for relief and release. His casual writing style, anecdotal fodder and how-to approach makes this book an easy read and useful resource for anyone who deals with kids (or is a kid at heart).

Given the increasingly sedate nature of our culture, this book is an inexpensive and valuable resource for anyone trying to balance attitudes, actions and performance.

Of course, parents dealing with ADHD children have tremendous challenges. I've witnessed the trauma an ADHD family faces, particularly when medication is not effective and/or accepted. This book provides some wonderful possibilities for these frustrated, exhausted parents, to redirect and focus their child's intellect through exercise. Putnam doesn't claim (and carefully cautions readers to seek expert input) to offer a panacea, but does provide some interesting, documented and easily implemented ideas for encouraging and monitoring regular physical activity in the ADHD child with the goal of minimizing symptoms and encouraging excellence.

In an era where illiterates like Shaquile O'Neal and Tim Allen hit the top ten list with their inane blather, it was a gift from the Gods to stumble upon this gem. When I put Querencia (kur-en-see-uh) down after having read it in one sitting, I asked myself, 'How in the hell is it that I have never heard of this Bodio character before?' He is a MASTERFUL author, a naturalist on par with ANY giant your memory or imagination may conjur, and as genuinely sensitive a man as there ever was. Only after MUCH research did I learn that East coast publishers hate him (his other works explain why: he's smarter than most all publishing execs and editors COMBINED, which is intimidating if you are a micro-apendaged ivy leaguer with a hi-lighter), and that's why he is not a, 'sold' author. Too bad. If Oprah read this, she'd cry herself into a migraine and then make Bodio a NY Times #1 seller: it's that good. IF YOU READ IT BASED UPON THIS RECOMMENDATION AND DO NOT THINK MY ASSESSMENT IS ACCURATE, PLEASE FEEL FREE TO EMAIL ME AND SET ME STRAIGHT! I am confident that I will not be hearing from you.

Querencia is a uniquely personal and cathartic experience of a complex and passionate man's odyssey - a relationship between man, woman, dogs, eagles and nature - an elevating, and sometimes excruciatingly painfull account of the human condition.

The consolation of man's enduring relationship with nature is exquisitely described here. Bodio deserves recognition as New Mexico's champion author, as his friend, Annie Proux has become for Wyoming. You will read this book over and over, and find new insights each time.

As a New Mexican who has probably walked over Bodio's boot tracks in the central mountains of New Mexico, I was completely captivated by his discriptions of this country that is so full of paradoxes and contrasts. No other author has been able to describe so well this unusual place and the affects it has on it's inhabitants: winged, four legged and two legged.

Doctor Steven Heller has written a fascinating book based on something that looks to be a passion. It's not that he is completely skeptical of any form of hypnosis, but he takes a hard look at the ritual and unnecessary dramatics of the professional "hypnotist." The word is in quotes, because you will see it that way all through the book. He was a clinical hypnotist for years. You should know that this title is not "Reader's Digest-level reading," it is intense and academic in approach. Steven Heller does believe in hypnosis, but under a different definition than most are used to. Monsters and Magical Sticks is filled with metaphors, imagery, and amazing success stories of his own case sessions. Learn about the "magic" behind Ericksonian techniques and Neuro-Linguistic Programming. This book will show you how hypnotism really works.

Not only did I find this book instructive, but very entertaining to read. I highly appreciate the fact that this book treats hypnosis as a natural aspect of daily life and yes it can be used intentionally and covertly as in this story from the book:

"One evening, a group of friends and I were having dinner at a local restaurant. Our waiter was very distracted and he appeared to be agitated and depressed. He was abrupt, slow and unfriendly. As a result, our service left a great deal to be desired. Since I wanted to have an enjoyable evening, I decided to "talk funny" to him in order to help him feel better.

As he walked by our table holding a coffee pot, I touched his arm and said, "I'm sorry that you forgot that special night ... with that special person ... those exciting things that happened ... those very warm feelings that would embarrass you to talk about ... since we are all strangers."

For a moment his face went blank; he looked up to his left; his face then lift up and he said, "How do you know about that?" He then smiled and began to laugh, and his whole attitude changed as if by magic. He said, "Wow. that was some night. I don't know how you know about it."

The next time he came to our table, I said to him, "Wasn't it simply amazing that when you remember those happy, warm feelings, your attitude continues to change, and you continue to feel even better?"

We received a delightful service throughout the rest of the evening. What was even nicer, was that as we left he told us that we were one of the nicest parties he had ever waited on. He also asked us to be sure and ask for him whenever we returned.

Now, I have absolutely no idea as to what he hallucinated, but my communication resulted in his going back into his own history. He then found an experience that filled in the blanks, and that memory helped him to change his whole attitude in a matter of seconds. Of course, there's no such thing as hypnosis, and if there is, he should have gone deeper and deeper into a trance."

Several years ago a friend loaned me his copy of Monsters and Magical Sticks. Within a few pages I knew that I was reading the work of geniuses. For months after I searched for a copy to call my own. Finally I found one. Both my training and therapeutic style have been fantastically improved! I am thrilled that this jewel is now more readily accessible. IT'S A MUST READ FOR EVERYONE WHO CONDUCTS TRAININGS AND/OR THERAPY. My hope is to one day talk with Dr. Heller or Ms. Steele and/or to attend one of their trainings. ...

It discuss goes over the many of the myths of WW2. Discusses the battles quite clearly.

The only concerns I have over the book is that I doubt that the English goverment would have accept terms during the battle even if Churchill had not been in charge.

Unlike Americans, who have an uncommon love of bragging about everything from the trivial to the terrific, the English have a fondness for understatement that tends of ignore the reality of their accomplishments.

When the Soviets asked Field Marshall Gerd von Rundstedt, the Wehrmacht's most senior operational commander, which battle he considered as the most decisive of the war in Europe. They expected him to cite Stalingrad, instead he said, "The Battle of Britain."

Had the Germans won the Battle of Britain, England could not have won the Battle of the North Atlantic and may well have been forced to accept peace terms similar to France. According to former War Minister Hore-Belisha, "the Tory party in the House were not very interested in the war, were afraid for their possessions and of the rise of Labour . . . . . " The Russians may well have defeated Germany, but that would have left all of Europe under Soviet control, not merely the eastern half of Europe as eventually happened.

The English myth of the Battle of Britain is similar to stories about Sir Francis Drake and the Spanish Armada in 1588, when Drake preferred to finish a game of bowls before sailing out to rout the Spanish. In 1940, the myth created by Churchill is that "Never before has so much been owed by so many to so few." Like Dunkirk, the image was one of luck, pluck and mucking through the confusion, ineptness and amateurism. Bungay shows the triumph of British planning and readiness.

The German image, reinforced by quick and easy defeats of Poland and France, was that of an impregnable military machine guided by highly experienced professionals using superior technology with the rigorous discipline of well trained and effective troops. In contrast, the British were thought to be slightly dowdy country squires lucky enough to deny victory to the superb German military. Much of this legacy is based on the image of the Munich Agreement of 1938, which has ever since been used to describe English politicians as too weak to fight and too scared to rearm.

Reality is quite different. Bungay explains the British victory was based on a superb plan of operations and aircraft development that began in earnest in 1936 and was rigorously carried out in 1940. The basic idea was developed in 1922. Instead of being unprepared and underarmed, Britain was perhaps the world's best prepared and best armed nation in terms of air defense in the 1940s. The result was a decisive British victory which left the Luftwaffe crippled.

To summarize, the British fought the Battle of Britain with a Teutonic thoroughness for organization, planning, discipline and effort; they left little to chance, planned for the worst cases and didn't rely on luck. In short, the British behaved like Germans at their best, though these qualities were tempered and restrained by the civility of traditional English life. The Germans fought with a British thoroughness for bickering, personal petty disputes and trusting in an ability to muddle through; it is hardly an accident that two of the top German commanders committed suicide as a result of the internal wrangling and bitterness within the Luftwaffe high command.

In 1940, the British knew they needed a united effort if they were to win; the Germans didn't adopt a similar attitude until mid-1945, when they realized they would need a united effort if their country was to survive in the post-war period. The British, in 1945, having won through a magnificent team effort, changed governments and embarked on an "I'm all right, Jack" philosophy backed up by union strikes designed to win the maximum benefit for their members even at the price of national economic survival.

Maybe the British should learn to boast . . . . .

However, the irony today is that the epitome of English luxury, the Rolls Royce automobile -- once a product of the same company that in 1940 built engines for Spitfires -- is now powered by engines made by the same company that built engines for the Me-109s that failed so ingloriously in 1940.

But, is that something to boast about?

This is a remarkable book. It is rare to read something that totally changes ones perceptions in the way that this book does. Bungay convincingly dispels the two enduring myths about the Battle of Britain - firstly, the image of the ruthlessly efficient Nazi War machine pitted against the valiant but amateurish "old school tie" RAF, and secondly the perceived wisdom that the Battle was a "close run thing".

However, even whilst dispelling the myths, Bungay succeeds in doing so without detracting in any way from the courage and heroism shown by the young men and women on both sides. On the contrary, by stripping away the fantasy and leaving us with the grim realities of the Battle, the quiet heroism of the combatants is all the more remarkable.

This is a thoroughly professional piece of historical analysis, but it is also an engaging and very readable book.

Had to buy it for a class; execellent resource for it's target audience. Make sure you're a memeber of that target audience (instructional technologists) before you buy :)

If I could only put one multimedia learning book on my bookshelf, this would be it. The "General Principles" section provides one of the best overviews I've read of Behavioral, Cognitive, and Constructivist approaches to learning (although I do think they misrepresent the Instructional Systems Design process and treat it as a purely Behavioralist approach). This section also presents an excellent overview of the learning process. The book moves on to discuss methodologies and learning sequences at an unparalleled level, including a brilliant discussion of simulations and educational games. The book closes with an overview of an approach to Design and Development that's worth reading, but far less valuable than the previous sections. Of all my design books, this one has the most dog-eared pages and underlined text; the chapter-level bibliographies alone are worth the book's price! Anyone looking to delve deep into multimedia design for learning should have this book on his or her shelf.

This is an excellent text in terms of coverage and pacing. If you are interested in human-computer interaction, this is a 'must have' text. What astonished me about this book is that it covered more issues in HCI than many dedicated user interface design books. The text admirably blends practical considerations with theoretical concerns and trends. It strongly focuses on motivational issues surrounding users of learning packages(an area largely ignored in the bulk of standard HCI texts). Don't pass over this book.

Overall, this was a great book, but there were several drawbacks. The author writes in a very scientific way, and puts so much information into one paragraph-long sentence that, having no time in the middle to pause and recollect and sort what you have read, in some places it was very difficult to understand. Because of this, several chapters were very slow reads for me. The author also employs the use of many large, scientific words, and I found myself constantly running for my dictionary. Although this did present a problem in some cases, the book very educational and i feel all the wiser for my persevering through it. If you have the time and patience to go through it slowly, it is well worth the money.

As a rider, trainer, and avid reader of equine literature, I can say assuredly that this is a "must read" for anyone serious about truly understanding why horses behave the way they do. It debunks many of the long standing myths that are so oft repeated in the horse world. Budiansky also gives us some history behing the human-horse relationship. Enjoyable to read, and has added to the relationship I have with my horses.

My only regret about this book is that it is too short! The author writes in a way that is both informative and easy to read, pulling together many resources to attempt to provide a comprehensive and objective look at the horse, its evolution and relationship with humans.

I particularly enjoyed the sections on the horse's domestication and horse genetics. The discussion of the way in which horse 'breeds' have been brought into existence and the various motivations for breeders to proceed with 'closed studbooks' while espousing the notion that they are breeding a horse suitable for a particular purpose.

But there is much more. The story of the horse is expanded with explainations of anatomy and physiology and how these have affected the horse's evolution and interactions with man. How a horse's digestive system affects its size, ability to prosper on poor grazing and performance for instance, or why the absolute speed of horses, and indeed other quadrupeds, is determined by their physiology.

I enjoyed this thoroughly and intend to not only read it all again but check out many of the references provided on some of the topics.

This third volume of the Nixon series is dominated by the Watergate scandal, with Ambrose skilfully detailing how the great election victory in 1972 slowly unravelled, as the full weight of the media and Democrat-controlled Congress worked to expose the whole tawdry episode. During this era, there was also the bombing of Hanoi followed by the Vietnam ceasefire, and summits with the Soviet leadership, but Watergate overshadowed all. Ambrose makes it clear that Nixon reinvented the story over and over, and bears a large burden of blame for the predicament he found himself in. He also makes clear that this was the opportunity for Nixon's arch enemies in the media and Congress to go for blood. The descent into the nightmare of possible impeachment and eventual resignation reads like an inevitablity, that Nixon lasted till August 1974 said a lot about his tenacity and stubborness in the face of relentless adversity.

The recovery of Nixon was never fully realized, although he was an authoritative elder statesman in later years, and Ambrose shows that Nixon had regained a fair amount of respect in his later years. Since his death the left has continued to disparage and villify his legacy, but as hard as it is to defend Nixon at times, he was still a statesman to be reckoned with, and his foreign policy record, especially with his China trip, is one of distinction. The eastern establishment despised Nixon, but he did not cater to them, it was the silent majority that was his constituency. One finishes this book wondering where America would have gone had the Watergate scandal not occurred.

I enjoyed this concluding part of Stephen Ambrose's three-volume biography of Richard Nixon. This could have been the most difficult of the volumes to write - as the author needed to write in a way which maintained the reader's interest through the often tortuous intricacies of Watergate. I thought that the dangers (or challenges) were twofold: a reader's familiarity with the issues behind and history of Watergate could produce boredom, or the sheer complexity of the affair could bewilder the less well-informed reader.

I sat somewhere in the middle - I knew the broad issues (having read Woodward and Bernstein, and seen various TV documentaries) but being a non-American, my grasp of the relative roles and importance of the various US institutions involved and the politico-constitutional nuances was to say the least, tenuous. I think that Ambrose succeeded in both keeping my attention and guiding me through the whole affair: the book read at times like a political thriller, but with passages which guided me through the more complex issues. Whether or not this would bore politically aware Americans is not for me to judge.

The vast majority of this book is (rightly) devoted to Watergate. I thought that Ambrose made a good point, and one which is perhaps forgotten as the collective memory of the 1970s fades, that Watergate became such a tremendously irritating bore - people wanted rid of it because it was just so tedious, seeming to have been dominating the news forever, and producing a sclerosis in the body politic when major events of world importance needed to be addressed. Again, not being an American, I can't attest to the accuracy of Ambrose's point, but it seems to me to ring true.

The remainder of the book deals with Nixon's post-resignation reconstruction of himself, and one has to admire Nixon's sheer tenacity and willpower. At the end, Ambrose attemps an assessment of the man and his impact on America and the world. It's up the each reader to take his/her own view on that assessment, but in this cynical world when our trust in politicians seems to be ebbing ever further away, I thought that it's tempting to agree with Ambrose that Nixon's tragedy was that he got caught.

Stephen Ambroses third Nixon Volume : "Ruin And
Recovery" takes on into the heart and soul
of democracy.
Cynics accustomed to political scandal might
be bemused by Watergate. What was all the
hullabaloo really all about?

Ambrose puts it something like this in the book:
To the british, with their official Secrets Act, nothing
that Nixon had done seemed that out of the ordinary,
much less illegal. The Italians simply threw up their hands
at the crazy Americans. To the French. Watergate
confirmed their suspicions about the naive Americans.
In west Germany, the frequent comparison of Nixon
to Hitler by his enemies in America showed either
how little the Americans understood Hitler,
or how little they understood Nixon, or both.
Nixons friends in China, could not understand
why he just didn't shoot his critics.

But in a democracy you must play by the law,
and you must trust and have faith in the wisdom
of the election process.
Watergate was all about how these things were
violated and how american democracy proved strong
enough to recover.
Ruin and Recovery reads like a detective story,
absolutely undeniable brilliant stuff.